Crime and Criminal Law in European and International Context - HSSC4

• Title: Crime and Criminal Law in European and International Context
• Guaranteed by: International Office (22-ZO)
• Faculty: Faculty of Law
• Actual: from 2023
• Semester: summer
• Points: 0
• E-Credits: 5
• Examination process: summer s.:
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:1/0, Ex [HT]
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: prof. JUDr. Bc. Tomáš Gřivna, Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): prof. JUDr. Bc. Tomáš Gřivna, Ph.D.; JUDr. Jaromír Hořák, Ph.D.; prof. JUDr. Zdeněk Kühn, Ph.D., LL.M.

Annotation

English

Last update: Ing. Svatava Marešová (07.08.2023)

Annotation:

The aim of the course is to introduce students to selected problems of (not only) Czech criminal law and criminology, seeking their solutions in the European and international context. The course focuses, for example, on problems such as cybercrime or electronic evidence.

Czech

Last update: doc. PhDr. Marta Chromá, Ph.D. (23.10.2019)

The purpose of the course is to provide a general introduction into Czech Criminal Law in a European context. The course will emphasize similarities and differences with other Western and Central European legal systems as well as the United States. The course is taught by academicians as well as practitioners with a deep expertise in criminal law. The first part of the course deals with the substantive questions of Czech Criminal law. We will deal with some interesting aspects of criminal law, like the law of abortion, which gave the right to abortion long before the similar reforms in most Western European nations and the United States. We will also go through emerging questions of harmonization of European criminal law by the law making activity of the EU. The second part will focus on the law of criminal procedure. It will explain ongoing reforms of criminal procedure law in Central European region after 1989 and assess their effects. We will also observe similar reforms in criminal law in other Central European nations, above all Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.

Syllabus

Last update: Ing. Svatava Marešová (07.08.2023)

Outline of the Course

1. History of Czech Criminal Law
2. Key Terms of Criminology
3. Psychology and Crime
4. Schools of Thought in Criminology
5. Czech Criminal Substantive Law I.
6. Mens Rea
7. Czech Criminal Substantive Law II.  
8. Czech Criminal Procedure 
9. Electronic Evidence in Criminal Proceedings
10. Cybercrime

Course Goals:

Students should be able to orientate themselves in the basic institutes of Czech criminal law. They should understand its roots and context. They should be able to think about some criminal law problems not only from the perspective of a specific legal regulation, but in general, i.e. to reflect on the reasoning behind the legal regulation.

Reading List

Chapter 1:No readings
Chapter 2:POMORSKI S.: Communists and their Criminal Law Revisited, 1989, HAVEL V.: Kicking the Door, 26 NY Review of Books Number 4, 1979
Chapter 3: COULLOUDON V.: Crime and Corruption after Communism. The Criminalization of Russia’s Political Elite, East Eur. Constitutional Rev., 1997 MUNGIU-PIPPIDI A.: Crime and Corruption after Communism. Breaking Free at Last: Tales of Corruption from the Postcommunist Balkans, East Eur. Const. Rev., 1997
Chapter 4: LANGER M.: From Legal Transplants To Legal Translations: The Globalization of Plea Bargaining and the Americanization Thesis in Criminal Procedure, PIZZI William T., MONTAGNA Mariangela: The Battle to Establish an Adversarial Trial System in Italy, excerpts, 2004
Chapter 5: DAMASKA M.: Presentation of Evidence and Fact finding Precision, 1975, DIEHM J.: The Introduction of Jury Trials and Adversarial Elements into the Former Soviet Union and Other Inquisitorial Countries, 2001, Optional: REICHEL P. L.: Comparative Criminal Justice Systems 254-273, 2005
Chapter 6: LANGER M.: From Legal Transplants To Legal Translations: The Globalization of Plea Bargaining and the Americanization Thesis in Criminal Procedure, excerpts, Optional: PIZZI William T., MONTAGNA Mariangela: The Battle to Establish an Adversarial Trial System in Italy, excerpts, 2004
Chapter 8: European Commission Papers: Reactions to the Presentation of the Broad Outline of European Union Security Policy, SANCHEZ W.: Council Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on the European Arrest Warrant and the Surrender Procedures between Member States, ALEGRE S., LEAF M.: Mutual Recognition in European Judicial Cooperation: A Step Too Far Too Soon? Case Study - the European Arrest Warrant, 10 European Law Journal 200, 2004 Is the EU Unconstitutional? The German Federal Constitutional Court Decision on the EAW (Press Release)
Chapter 10: SCHULHOFER S. J.: The Feminist Challenge in Criminal Law. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, vol. 143, 2151, 1995

Course completion requirements

Last update: Ing. Svatava Marešová (23.01.2023)

Exam:

The written exam consists of writing an essay on one of the topics offered. The topics are related to the lectures.

Means of communication: Moodle